


it's a bitter world (and I'd rather dream)

by Bonnie_Bug



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, fun with alien culture and historical wibblyness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-27
Updated: 2016-09-27
Packaged: 2018-08-17 14:25:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,134
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8147345
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bonnie_Bug/pseuds/Bonnie_Bug
Summary: The Aluwrani really were a remarkable group of people. They deeply believed in the power of dreams and wishes, and how the desires of the subconscious affected the waking decisions of the individual in question. They built their entire society on the bases of dreams and psychic sciences, and, despite all odds, oh how they thrived.

The Doctor takes Amy and Rory on a trip to Aluwran Aexel Five, homeworld of the Aluwrani, for their Festival of Dreams. While there, they buy a device called a Dreamcatcher, which can show you your one true dream.





	

**Author's Note:**

> originally posted january 18, 2013 [on tumblr](http://bonnie-bug.tumblr.com/post/40890648792/doctor-who-fic-the-aluwranian-dreamcatcher)

The Aluwrani really _were_ a remarkable group of people.  
  
They deeply believed in the power of dreams and wishes, and how the desires of the subconscious affected the waking decisions of the individual in question. They built their entire society on the bases of dreams and psychic sciences, and, despite all odds, _oh_ how they thrived.  
  
When Amy and Rory had asked him to take them to someplace relaxing – _truly_ relaxing, mind you, not the type of relaxing that really meant “you’re not going to be running about all day, not because there’s no danger on this planet, but because you’re chained up in a cell deep underground and about to be eaten alive at any moment” that happened to them far too often; they had made that _quite_ clear – he’d grinned and set in the coordinates to Aluwran Aexel Five, homeworld of the Aluwrani, creators of the Dreamcatchers.

 

“What do you mean, Dreamcatchers?” Amy had asked as he whizzed about the console. “Aren’t they those spidery Indian things, with the hoops and feathers?”  
  
“No! Well, yes, _sort_ of,” he’d replied, flicking the temporal stabilizers on and adjusting the anomalic diffuser scope with a flick of his wrist. “The Aluwrani once paid a visit to Earth centuries ago – centuries for _you_ that is, it’s been eons for them – and brought with them the knowledge of how to build a very basic prototype Dreamcatcher. The Chippewa Indians tried to replicate them, but, being humans with a very low, practically redundant and fairly useless level of psychic ability, not to mention _completely_ the wrong sorts of materials, they were unable to recreate it. Eventually, thanks to the distortion of word-of-mouth and the lack of vocabulary needed to truly pass on the instructions, high-density triathelion wiring became string, psychic resonators became small beads, and energy diffusers became feathers, and the true purpose of the Dreamcatcher was lost to the mists of time,” he drifted his hand across, as if to mimic the fading himself.  
  
“Except with the Aluwrani!” he had exclaimed, twirling around the console to smack down the lever controlling the engines’ chrono-nuclear activity before they imploded and caused the creation of a rather sizable black hole. “Being their own technology, of course, they never forgot the Dreamcatchers. Sure, they got shifted to the wayside for a couple of decades here and there as other matters cropped up, but they never gave up their dreams…”  
  
“… And those dreams were… what, exactly?” Rory had asked when he’d fallen silent.  
  
“Recording, of course! More specifically, recording their _dreams_. Haven’t you ever wished you could record your dreams and view them again later, when you’re awake and have a full grasp on your cognitive abilities?” They had nodded as he plowed right on. “ _Well_ , it’s impossible. The psychic energy you give off as you dream has been proven to be too erratic and unstable to pin down into solid thoughts and images from an outside source. _Instead_ , the Aluwrani created a device that could capture and analyze your thought processes as you slept, and translate them into your core desire, your most basic and fundamental dream, thus–” and he slammed down on the brake, parking them with a low tone from the engines – “Dreamcatchers,” he smiled.  
  
Now that they had become properly excited over the idea of Dreamcatchers, he and the Ponds had quickly left the TARDIS to go out and witness the splendor that was Aluwran Aexel Five. For once, he’d actually gotten the date, time, _and_ place right, having landed them in a park located in the center of the capital city Larugi on the continent of Paralo, right in the middle of the Seven Hundred and Twenty-First Festival of Dreams, the grandest Festival of Dreams they would ever have. They had explored the vast temples of their goddesses Narchimio –  the Bringer of Sleep, which, on a planet entirely devoted to dreams, was a very important thing – and Paluwrawra – the Bringer of Light, admittedly a bit less important than sleep, but seeing as Aluwran Aexel Five was located between four star systems, thus having five suns in the sky (one being a binary system), it was hardly surprising. They had climbed atop the highest building in the city, looking out on the sparkling spires and arches that stretched as far as the eye could see, shimmering in the light of the quintet of suns high above. They had walked along the crowded, winding streets of Larugi, listening to the music that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at once, music that seemed to almost put you in a trance if you let yourself get caught up in it. They had trespassed on the royal grounds of the Emperor Hachumati himself, though thankfully got off with just a warning and a stern “don’t do it again” from his Highest And Most Esteemed Priestess.  
  
Of course, you could only wander around the Seven Hundred and Twenty-First Aluwranian Festival of Dreams for so long before you actually _bought_ a Dreamcatcher, so, with a Kiosk and a little jiggery-pokery with his sonic, he’d procured enough Credits to buy two of the highest quality Dreamcatchers for Amy and Rory. It was only after a fair amount of prodding by Amy that he had bought a basic one for himself – what he was doing was already pretty much outside of the law already, as she informed him, so why not splurge for himself while he was at it??  
  
They had stayed around at the Festival long after the last sun had set, the lanterns lining the streets burning with a soft, golden glow, quietly talking about anything and everything. Amy began to yawn widely and yawn often after about four hours of this, at which point, he’d grabbed their shoulders and briskly walked back to the TARDIS, saying that sleep was eminent for them, seeing as it was likely long past four in the morning for their internal body clocks, and what better time to test out their new Dreamcatchers than when they were soon to be dead on their feet?  
  
He had quickly set up the small Dreamcatchers above their bed, cutting off and winding a few locks of their hair – providing the DNA-powered psychic link – through the centers, through Rory’s short hair proved to be a tad bit more difficult than his wife’s. Amy, proving to be even _more_ stubborn than usual when she was exhausted, if it were possible, didn’t let him leave until he did the same with his own Dreamcatcher, and had made him promise on fish fingers and custard to actually _use_ it tonight, and not just tuck it away in one of his endless pockets and forget about it. He had promised, crossing his hearts for good measure, and ducked out of their room, bidding them a good night, and pleasant dreams.  
  
True to his word, he actually _had_ used it, hanging it up above his scarcely-used bed before going to sleep – of more or less his own volition, for once. He was still up and about hours before his human companions, though, flicking levers and twiddling switches, turning lights on and off in the corridors and adjusting the temperature of the pool which may or may not actually exist at the current moment, pretending he was doing something productive when they finally walked in.  
  
“Alright, Doctor,” Amy called as she and Rory tromped down the stairs, her Dreamcatcher held in her hands. “The little lights on the side are blinking instead of being solid; does that mean it worked?” He loped forward and grinned, reaching out for the slim white ring of plastic-but-not-plastic.  
  
“Indeed it does, Pond, indeed it does…” Pressing a few buttons, he handed it back to Amy before doing the same to Rory’s, standing back with his hands clasped behind his back and watching them as they watched their most basic dreams play out before them.  
  
“So…” he said after a few moments, a small smile on his face. “What did you dream?”  
  
“Amy,” Rory said, a soft grin on his face as he looked down at his Dreamcatcher before raising it up and showing it around. “Just Amy.” Sure enough, a perfect image of his wife’s face was playing out on the round projection screen that filled the inside of the Dreamcatcher. She was looking up at all of them, eyes full of laughter and love as she simply stood there, smiling. He turned to the object of his dream, asking, “What about you?”  
  
“I dreamt about all of us,” she said, mimicking that same smile as she showed off her own Dreamcatcher. It was indeed the three of them, shot from behind as they looked out the open TARDIS doors into deep space. As they watched, Amy, positioned between her two boys, slung one arm around his own shoulder like they were best friends and siblings, wrapping the other around her husband’s waist, their fingers threaded together.  
  
“The Ponds and the Time Lord in the TARDIS… just as it should be,” he smiled, before clapping his hands together lightly and twirling off to do more pointless fiddling of buttons. “There you go! Your truest, most basic dream possible. For the time being, at least; it might change, eventually, as you grown and experience more and more new things, but for the _most_ part–”  
  
“What about you, Doctor?” Amy interrupted him. “What did you dream of?” He faltered – just for a moment, a split second, silently thankful that he was across the console from her with the Time Rotor blocking her view – before swiftly answering.  
  
“Nothing,” he said. “Or, to be more precise, it _detected_ nothing. It doesn’t work on Time Lords, our psychic energy is too different, too complex. Moreover, we only need an hour or two of sleep at a time, which isn’t long enough to take a proper reading, even if it _could_ decipher my brain waves. That’s why I didn’t want to buy a Dreamcatcher in the first place; I knew it wouldn’t work.”  
  
“Oh, well, that’s too bad…” Amy said, walking around the console and resting a hip against a side – dangerously close to the atomic thruster delay controls, he’d have to warn her about those later – as she looked up at him. “We got to see _our_ dreams… it’s a shame you couldn’t see yours.”  
  
“Nonsense, Pond!” he exclaimed. “I already know _my_ dream.” He twirled around, arms outstretched as he gestured to the whole of his magnificent ship. “ _This_. This _is_ my dream, exploring and seeing the stars, and having others see them with me.” He grinned and tapped her nose, prompting her to grin back at him.  
  
Dancing back around the console, he flipped a few more useless levers and adjusted the harmonic resonator system for the fourth time in as many minutes, saying “Now, we’ve done relaxing; let’s do _exciting_. There’s a planet just off of the Baranom Nebula that’s home to one of the rarest species in the Universe: the Paxamorica. They’re completely domesticated now, of course, so there’s no worries about them biting our heads off, but they _do_ love a good chase… You’ll want running shoes, proper ones – there should be some in the wardrobe,” he shooed them off.  
  
He waited until they had walked out of human hearing range before slowing his redundant button-mashing, resting his hands against the console. He reached into a jacket pocket, pulling out the small Dreamcatcher and holding it in the palm of his hand, watching the lights flash and dance. With a small, almost imperceptible sigh, he pressed a button on its rim, watching as the projection flickered and stabilized.

 

_Rule One: The Doctor lies._

  
  
He was walking along, staring straight up at the burnt-orange sky stretching overhead. He looked down from the heavens to his right, smiling at the blonde walking in time with him. She grinned back, tongue between her teeth, before looking down at the young girl skipping between them, a young girl with her mother’s eyes and her father’s grin, her hands clasped in each of theirs. With a laugh and a whoop they swung her back and forth, robes that matched their own barely brushing the red-grass ground. Their joy rang out through the warm, dusty air, as physical and tangible as Time itself.  
  
The happy scene played out before him, so crisp and clear it felt as though he could reach out and clutch it in his grasp. Instead, he reached out and pressed another button, the image fading into the soft buzz of psychic static. He dropped his head into his hands, leaning against the console as he listened to the Time Rotor whirr and grind.

  
  
It wasn’t that Dreamcatchers didn’t work with a Time Lord’s psyche.

  
  
It was that they worked _too well._


End file.
